569 Speedy Student
Michael and his friends were sweating profusely. After they ate together, Kaleb proposed to work out together. It had been quite a while since they trained in a group, after all. Michael and Lincoln agreed, not knowing that Kaleb meant to perfect the devilish training session from Silvian Schild.
The three guys were subjected to weird stares as they practiced, but they didn't really care. Performing the exercises introduced by Silvian Schild released some of the stress they'd accumulated over the last few weeks. It elevated their mood to an entire new level.
Kaleb didn't make it obvious, but he was relieved that Michael's stiff expression changed as he neared the end of the devilish training session. He sighed in relief once they were done, glad that his friend was doing much better.
"Do you need help with anything?" Kaleb asked after the three sweaty friends went for a shower. Kaleb was drying his azure-
hair, his ocean-blue eyes locked onto Michael.
"I'm fine. Kraft Viton has already received an item list. I'm good to go," Michael shrugged, "He will teach me today. I'm curious how it will go."
He smiled lightly, and was about to leave the training hall's changing room when he heard Lincoln from behind.
"I heard that his students became traitors. Some say that it's a curse, while others say that Kraft Viton attracts all bad apples for students. But that shouldn't be an issue now that he trains you. It's just something I heard. Maybe, the rumors are exaggerated."
'That's why he was reluctant to accept me as his student. It would make sense if his former students are all traitors. That old man is really unlucky.' Michael nodded in understanding.
"Yeah, I will be fine. There is no need to worry about me. As long as the assassination and kidnap attempts stop," Michael chuckled lightly, but Lincoln and Kaleb could only press their lips together.
They acknowledged that it was quite annoying that his own people tried to kidnap him. If that happened too often, they would also turn against their own people. Who would be willing to trust those who broke his trust countless times?
The two Descendants sincerely hoped that the kidnap attempts would stop soon.
Michael separated from his friends after the relieving devilish training session and walked over to Kraft Viton's office. Kraft Viton heard him on the floor and threw a small ring in his direction as the door opened.
Michael had to rely on his reflexes to catch the ring, but he smiled faintly as a trace of energy channeled into the spatial ring filled with the items he'd requested less than three hours ago. Not a single item was missing. That was quite fast, even though none of the items he'd requested was highly advanced or incredibly rare.
"Don't be distracted," Kraft Viton tapped his hand on a stash of books he had piled up next to him, a smile creeping up his lips, "I'm pretty sure that you know what you're going to have to do as my student."
This was a little bit different from what Michael expected. He expected to have some practical lessons first to have Kraft Viton determine his combat prowess and adjust his curriculum accordingly. However, Kraft Viton didn't seem to care about that at all.
"You want me to read all of them?" Michael pointed at the piles of books. There were at least 200 books, and none of them was thin.
Kraft Viton grinned deviously but he didn't say a word. Michael responded to that with a shrug.
"Give me a few hours and I'll be back!" Michael stated, stepping forward while releasing his origin energy to shroud the books in one go.
He stored them inside his War Rune's storage space and opened the Runic Gate in the next moment.
"You just wait!"
Michael's declaration resounded through the small office even after he stepped into the Runic Gate. He disappeared, leaving Kraft Viton alone less than two minutes after stepping inside the old man's office.
Kraft Viton, however, continued to smile, "What an impatient rascal."
He chuckled lightly and was about to sit down on his comfortable wooden chair when he received a few notifications.
"Urgh. These pesky bastards are growing stingier as they age. Are they going to bury their old, decayed bodies in their treasure trove, or what?" The old man cursed loudly, "If you guys continue like this, we will lose the Sacred Desert. Not that I, particularly, care."
Kraft Viton might have uttered that he doesn't care, but deep down he knew that that was not true. Even after 500 years of hard work, mankind only managed to attain access to no more than three regions in the Origin Expanse. Of course, it was also true that it was not necessary to claim entire regions and rule them on their own, but the benefits of ruling a region were exceptional. The benefits were valuable enough to invest a fortune into protecting the Sacred Desert.
The Barren Lands were about to turn into a permanent spawn point for Human Awakened. Humans who'd manifested their War Rune not too long ago would be given the opportunity to spawn inside the Barren Lands once Humans became the sole rulers. This could be used as an advantage to turn the Barren Lands into the stronghold of mankind's Awakened.
Following that, more Awakened would survive in the Origin Expanse by relying on the Barren Lands' protection, allowing Humans to grow stronger in a more secure environment. Once they had grown stronger, it would be easy to expand their territory outwards, further away from the Barren Lands.
The High Society had been hoping to do the same with the Sacred Desert. They hoped that the Sacred Desert and the Barren Lands would turn into permanent spawn points for new Awakened to expand their area of control into the adjacent regions and include areas with higher energy density in their territory. Those regions had more treasures and more unique monsters that dropped a higher variety of exotic loot.
Those who managed to expand the Human Regions further would be able to earn a fortune, just like Michael did with the Untamed Jungle's unique drops.
But now they were about to lose the Sacred Desert, and High Society's move against the invading Undead forces wasn't decisive. In fact, their move was the opposite of that. Kraft Viton had been worried about that, but he never expected that High Society would vote against his proposal to send the Exterminator.
'Is it necessary for us to intervene before it's too late? If they do nothing…we can still do something with our private forces…'
**
Michael came back to the Origin Expanse without delay. He retrieved the stashes of books he'd stored in his War Rune before and opened the first to start reading. Yet, instead of reading like a normal person would do, Michael activated Extraction to extract the Knowledge Wisps contained within the books.
Michael extracted more than 300 Knowledge Wisps within 10 minutes before he was finally done. He reached out to the Knowledge Wisps, used a Soul Tear to amplify Enhancement, and used Enhancement several times on his brain. In the next instant, Michael began consuming the Knowledge Wisps, one after another greedily.
He didn't rush the consumption of the Knowledge Wisps. Instead, Michael spent the next 12 hours digesting the knowledge properly. He reorganized the knowledge in his mind and put it under specific labels. Certain pieces of information were more useful while others were either redundant or felt like duplicates from other books.
It was only fortunate that Michael's mind refinement technique, Ceasurium Menta, had reached a high refinement degree. His high refinement degree made it increasingly easier to digest information and reorganize information. At this point, he could split up information and tag his synapses to recollect certain information better than others. That was incredibly helpful.
By consuming the Knowledge Wisps, Michael learned a lot of theory within half a day. His understanding of territory development, warfare, emotional management, and much more stuff improved. It was only theoretical knowledge that had to be applied a little bit differently in a practical situation, but the Knowledge Wisps included anecdotes from Kraft Viton and various other powerhouses. Their experiences had been carefully noted to teach the younger generation about the mistakes made by the old ones.
There was no need for the youngsters to repeat the mistakes of their elders.
Michael's mood improved tremendously. He learned the theoretical knowledge and various tips and tricks from the best of the best of mankind.
Though he spent 12 hours in the Origin Expanse, only six hours had passed in the outside world.
Michael manifested the Runic Gate once again and stepped out of the Origin Expanse to return to Kraft Viton's office. Just as he came back from the Origin Expanse, Michael saw a Runic Gate manifest in front of him. Kraft Viton had been in the Origin Expanse as well.
"Oh. You're already back. That was a lot faster than I expected," Kraft Viton uttered nonchalantly, "I thought you were exaggerating when you said that you'll return in a few hours."
Michael grinned proudly. He knocked his temple, his smile widening, "I'm pretty good at memorizing stuff."
"That makes everything a lot easier," Kraft Viton bowed in acknowledgment, "Since you're done, can you return the books?"
Michael's smile froze.
"You wanted them back?" He nearly stuttered 'I should have asked…'
"It's better if you return them, yes. They weren't easy to create. I worked together with my old friends to write the best guides for our students."
Michael's lips parted but closed at the next moment.
"That might be a bit difficult" He revealed in all honesty, "I might have extracted the knowledge to consume it instantly."
Michael retrieved the stashes of books. The only issue was that they were empty. Not a single word was written on any of the thick tomes that were now reduced to mere cardboards.
"Sorry~"
